On Wednesday, December 6, 2006, Caterina Borelli and Pamela Jerome held a showing of their documentary “The Architecture of Mud” in Rome at the Desert Nights Film Festival. Borelli and Jerome, both documentary film makers, received a United States Information Agency fellowship (now Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs) from the American Institute for Yemeni Studies (AIYS) to make the documentary and the accompanying technical study. The screening was organized by the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in an effort to highlight the serious challenge of desertification on the international agenda. The screening was also supported by the Italian government.